Authors: Angie West
“
Thank you.
”
I graciously accepted the towel from another unnamed crony and took a seat near the door.
“
Sorry for the interruption
,
”
I tried.
“
Not to worry.
Not to worry
—
”
“
What is this about?
”
Did I mention John was married to my sister Megan?
‘
W
as
’
being the operative word.
He divorced her five years ago for greener pastures.
That
’
s a more polite way of saying
‘
bimbo in a tight sweater.
’
They
—
Megan and John
—
never had any children
, and
Megan had moved on a long time ago.
But I still had a strict rule to call him by his first name at all times.
I wanted to take a bat to his Mercedes, but Megan
—
“
Not sure, but
—
”
“
Sorry.
What did you say?
”
Johns green eyes narrowed in irritation.
“
Please try and stay with us.
”
He sniffed.
“
Absolutely. I
’
m all yours.
Now what
’
s so important that I had to come here?
”
“
Now Claire
,
you
’
re a respected scientist
,
”
he began to protest,
all charm and grace.
Too bad it was all fake.
I waved my hand and shook my head, attempting to cut through his B.S.
“
Right.
I
’
m a botanist
,
John.
”
He cleared his throat
.
“
A good one.
”
I raised one eyebrow and set the towel aside, saying nothing.
“
It
’
s about your brother
,
”
he
began gently.
“
I haven
’
t seen him
,
”
I said quickly, jumping forward in my seat.
Probably not a good idea
...
I was giving too much away.
So much for my poker face; that was definitely not good.
Although it wasn
’
t a lie
—
I hadn
’
t seen him
, not
in five months, anyway.
The last time had been a cool night
,
and
I had been sworn to secrecy.
Oh Mike
, I thought,
of all people to swear to secrecy
—
why me
?
Not that he had told me much of anything
...not
anything that made sense
,
at least.
But of all people…I shook my head. Everyone knew that if you needed a cover
,
you
didn
’
t
use Claire.
Rule number one.
I may be good at a lot of things, but lying wasn
’
t one of them.
I forced myself to breathe normally.
John
—
and the rest of the room
—
were regarding me with open speculation.
I forced a nervous laugh.
“
What has Mike gotten into now?
He owes you money?
”
Mike never owed anyone money
—
that I knew of.
But it sounded good.
Normal
, I thought.
Or at least it would have if my left eye hadn
’
t been twitching.
I told you I
was
a horrible liar.
Secrets
were
just not my forte. But more than that
,
my last meeting with my brother still didn
’
t set right with me.
I had a vague but nagging sense of unease after Mike had left that I had been pushing to the side for the last few months.
Now that unease was steadily creeping back, full force.
John didn
’
t laugh.
He just shuffled some papers and cleared his throat.
“
He really owes you money?
”
I was surprised.
I never figured
Mike
for a man who would be in debt
—
he didn
’
t live extravagantly.
Didn
’
t gamble, or drink, or use drugs.
“
No
,
nothing like that.
”
Oh.
“
So, just spit it out
,
John
.
What
’
s this about?
”
I was getting annoyed and leery.
“
Do you know anything about the work your brother had been doing for us?
”
“
No.
”
My senses were running on high alert now. Mike had been working for these people?
No way.
For that matter, why was I?
I guess the answer to that question was simple enough.
I was
t
here first.
And I didn
’
t exactly work for John.
I worked in the basement in labs and pharmaceuticals.
John and the rest of his Armani clad associates were in charge of the
day-to-day
operations at Lantech Corporation.
The pay was decent, people generally left me alone, and I didn
’
t have to be chained to the place
twenty-four
hours a day.
And like I said
,
I was
t
here first.
No way was I going to be run off by my sister
’
s
ex-husband
, no
matter how much I was beginning to rethink that decision.
Actually, I had been mulling over a change of scenery for a while now.
A career change might be nice. Maybe I could be a waitress, or a show girl
...they
still had showgirls, right?
I shook my head and pressed my lips together while I eyed John in silence.
The discomfort was ever present
,
and I wasn
’
t about to volunteer any information.
He seemed momentarily deflated, but pressed on after a moment.
“
Your brother is an archaeologist.
”
“
Yes.
”
“
How to say this...
.
”
His fingers drummed lightly on the
lacquered
table top
.
He appeared to be deep in thought for a moment.
“
Seven months ago, Michael contacted me
—
he was looking for financial backing for a dig, of sorts.
”
“‘
Dig of sorts
’
?
”
Now he had my full attention.
“
What do you mean, a
‘
dig of sorts
’
?
”
“
I
’
m getting to that.
It
’
s
—
well, it
’
s a very interesting story, I assure you.
”
“
I
’
m sure it is.
”
I said dryly.
“
But why would he come to Lantech for backing?
”
He hates you.
“
Why didn
’
t his organization fund the dig?
”
He really hates you.
“
Or the museum affiliates?
Or any of the other number of foundations he could have approached for the funding?
”
Did I mention that he really hates you?
“
Your brother came to me several months ago with documents and literature that were…unique.
He unearthed them in central Africa on an expedition several years ago.
”
I frowned.
“
Africa.
That was five years ago.
But why?
”
“
He had his own reasons for holding onto the documents.
Your brother is a business man at heart, Claire.
”
It took everything I had to refrain from giving Dear John a coffee bath.
My brother was a businessman?
He would have sooner tarred and feathered himself.
But I didn
’
t bother telling John this.
It wouldn
’
t have made a difference anyways and I was starting to think that now was a great time to play the strong silent part.
“
The literature was a very interesting story indeed. There was a tale of an ancient civilization.
The documents made up a series of clues
—
a map, if you will
—
to a location in
Africa
.
The potential monetary value of the expedition was significant.
”
I scowled now.
“
You mean to tell me that
my
brother would have
...
would have
...
scalped the findings to the highest bidder to make a quick buck?
Are you kidding me?
You, I would believe that of, but Mike?
”
I picked up
my
bag.
“
I
’
m done.
Do you understand me?
I don
’
t know why you
’
re telling me this
, but
I can
’
t help you find Mike and I don
’
t want to hear anymore.
Have a nice day, John, and you better pray that I don
’
t turn you in for something like this.
”
With that, I turned to go.
“
Now, Claire, you wouldn
’
t want your brother implicated in something so…unethical.
Not with your brother
’
s whereabouts and safety in question at the moment.
”
That stopped me.
He knew it would, damn him.
“
Where are the documents?
And where is my brother?
If you did anything to him, I will make you sorrier than you already are, you worm.
”
He flushed bright red now, his temper having sustained all the blows it would from me, I supposed.
Well, too bad
, I thought.
I was nowhere near done if anything had happened to Mike.
“
The documents are gone
, and
so is your brother.
I agreed to fund the expedition, as I
’
ve said already.
We did some checking.
He never made it to
Zaire
.
He hasn
’
t contacted us since.
But he left some clues behind.
”
John held out a box for me to take.
I hesitated a moment before I reluctantly took a step away from the door and took the package from his outstretched hand.
The box
was
full of notebooks.
I sat down, then, and carefully picked up a book,
thumbing
through the worn pages.
It was full
,
bordering on overfull
,
of Mike
’
s less than neat handwriting.
This was odd in itself.
Mike actually had very good penmanship.
I kept that to myself as I dug through the box, locating several folders and rough sketches before I dropped the items back into the box.
I looked up and waited.